“Mia! No!”
With a burst of speed, Hannah blocked her way. “You don’t want to see that. She’s . . . gone.”
“But that’s Erin.”
“I know. I know it is. But if you see her like that, that’s all you’re going to see whenever you think of her. Please trust me.”
Mia idly reached behind her head, to the fading braids that Erin had tied six hours ago. She bit her lip to keep from crying.
David poked his head out the back doors. “Ladies, we need to go.”
“I need someone up front with me,” Zack yelled.
Hannah moved to the passenger door and climbed inside. She saw Zack fumble the key ring with shaking hands. For him, there was no avoiding the sight of Erin Salgado. He had to step over her bisected corpse to enter the van.
The actress put a calming hand on his arm. He looked at her. “You saw her.”
She grimly nodded. Zack suppressed the mad screaming fit that had been eluding him since day one.
“Goddamn it. Goddamn it.”
David tapped on the metal mesh that separated the front seats from the back. “Dr. Czerny says the hospital’s not far. Make a left at the front gate, then keep going for two miles.”
“Okay.”
Hannah spotted rapid movement through the lobby windows. “Oh no . . .”
David pressed against the grate. “Two more are coming this way, Zack! We need to go!”
“I’m trying!”
The Salgado family had three vans, four cars, and two motorcycles between them. All keys were present, and none seemed to fit the ignition.
The front doors of the building swung open. A pair of stout, red-haired twins stepped outside. They fixed their stoic gazes on the Silvers.
Hannah cocked her head at them. “Why are they just standing there?”
The MacDougals each raised their outer arm, aiming an open palm at the van.
Theo went pale. “Shit. I don’t like this . . .”
Zack jabbed another key at the ignition. “What? What are they doing?”
A loud metallic squeal filled the van. Suddenly the passenger-side windows turned cloudy and cracked.
Hannah looked up at the creaking roof. “Are they crushing us?”
Amanda rooted through the first aid kit, struggling to stay focused on her task. Czerny’s skin had turned cool and clammy. He’d lost too much blood. He was slipping into shock.
Mia kept her tense gaze on her. “Amanda, you have to promise me you won’t leave this van.”
“What?”
“I got a note—”
“David, keep Theo’s arm raised!” Amanda lifted Czerny’s legs to push circulation. She glared at Zack through the grate. “Would you start the damn van already?”
“I’m looking for the right key!”
“Amanda, you have to promise me you won’t leave this van until I tell you it’s safe!”
“Okay, Mia! I won’t! I promise!”
Hannah screamed as a door hinge came loose. Patches of rust grew along the edge of the windows.
“They’re not crushing the van,” David said. “They’re aging it.”
Cursing, Zack isolated the failed keys, then held the ring out to Hannah. “Take over.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m undoing! Just go!”
Hannah grabbed the ring and bent uncomfortably toward the ignition. Her door let out another rusty groan. She tried not to think what would happen if the twins got an open line of attack on her.
Zack concentrated on the windshield, reversing away the clouds and cracks. He could see the blue-suited brother in front of the van, raising a palm at the hood.
“Shit. He’s going for the engine.”
David pressed against the metal mesh. “Open the gate!”
“What?”
“I can take him, but you need to open the gate!”
Zack slid the grating. David squeezed his upper body through the opening and aimed a hand at the attacking twin. Suddenly the man’s head became enveloped in seven-year-old construction noise, localized and amplified for maximum effect. The twin covered his ears, wincing in agony.
“Good, David. Good!”
“Just get us out of here!”
“I’m trying!” Hannah screamed.
Fortunately, her sixth key was the right one. The electric motor came to life with a loud whirr.
“I got it! I got it! Go!”
Zack reflexively reached for the space where a gearshift would be. There was nothing there but a cup holder. He scanned the wheel and dashboard. “Where the hell . . . ?”
“What’s the problem?”
“The gearshift. I can’t find it.”
Hannah searched with him. “Did you check the other side?”
“I’m looking everywhere. I can’t see it.”
The second hinge rusted away. Hannah’s door fell to the asphalt with a loud crash. The green-suited twin stood fifteen feet away. He aimed his hand at the actress.
“Oh God!”
She shifted into high speed and clumsily hurled a walkie-talkie. It shattered at the man’s feet, cutting his ankle with a bouncing piece of shrapnel. He lost his concentration.
The window behind Theo crumbled with age. “Zack, why aren’t we going?!”